US senators’ legislation aims for increased military assistance for Black Sea countries including Georgia

A new piece of bipartisan legislation, introduced by Senator Jeanne Shaheen, the Chair of the United States Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Europe and Regional Security Cooperation and Senator Mitt Romney, on Wednesday directed the Biden administration to develop a strategy towards the Black Sea region, which it said had “increasingly become a critical inflection point for European and global security amid Vladimir Putin’s unprovoked war in Ukraine”.

The legislation called on the administration to increase military assistance towards Black Sea countries, particularly Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria and Georgia.

Putin has already demonstrated the high strategic value he places upon the Black Sea region by invading Georgia in 2008, followed by his annexation of Crimea in 2014 and further invasion of Ukraine this year. Control over access to the Black Sea is fundamental to his delusional dream of building a Russian empire and the United States cannot allow that to happen”, Shaheen said.

She underlined the legislative initiative was urging the administration to make the US policy in the Black Sea region a “priority” by developing an interagency report followed by a strategy for enhancing economic ties, strengthening democratic institutions and bolstering military assistance and coordination between the United States, NATO and Black Sea partners.

In his turn, Senator Romney noted the Black Sea had become “increasingly critical” as Putin continued to wage his unprovoked war in Ukraine, saying it had become clear that the US must have “both a strategy and presence” in the region.